1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a snow vehicle, particularly to a snow vehicle having a cooling water path for cooling an engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A snow vehicle having a cooling water path for cooling an engine is known. Such a snow vehicle is disclosed in, for example, U.S. 2004/0237927.
U.S. 2004/0237927 discloses a snow vehicle including an engine, a cooling water introducing hose for cooling an engine and a cooling water discharging hose, a cooling water inlet arranged at a front surface of the engine and connected to the cooling water introducing hose, and a cooling water outlet arranged at a rear surface of the engine and connected to the cooling water discharging hose.
According to the snow vehicle disclosed in U.S. 2004/0237927, the cooling water outlet connected to the cooling water discharging hose is arranged at the rear surface of the engine and therefore, it is difficult to arrange the engine closer to a rear side of the vehicle by any appreciable amount. As a result, it is difficult to make a gravitational center of the engine close to a gravitational center of the snow vehicle, which is normally arranged on the rear side of the engine, and therefore there is a drawback in that it is difficult to improve turning ability of the vehicle.
As a result, there has been disclosed a snow vehicle provided with a cooling water inlet portion and a cooling water outlet portion of an engine at a portion other than a rear surface of the engine. Such a snow vehicle is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,261.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,261 discloses a snow vehicle having an engine, a cooling water hose for cooling the engine, a cooling water inlet portion arranged at a front surface of the engine and connected to the cooling water hose, and a cooling water outlet portion arranged on a left side of the engine in an advancing direction of the vehicle and connected to the cooling water hose. The cooling water hose is connected to the cooling water inlet portion arranged at the front surface of the engine by passing a right side of the engine from the cooling water outlet portion arranged on the left side surface of the engine by way of a heat exchanger arranged on a rear side of the engine.
However, according to the snow vehicle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,261, the cooling water hose is connected to the cooling water inlet portion arranged at the front surface of the engine by passing the rear side and the right side of the engine from the cooling water outlet portion arranged at the left side surface of the engine and therefore, the cooling water hose is liable to be long. Therefore, this poses a problem in that it is difficult to simplify the cooling water hose and miniaturize a cooling structure of the engine.